The present invention relates generally to storage medium processing and in particular the present invention relates to a medium handler and organizer.
Compact discs are used as a storage medium for digital information. The data is stored on the compact disc by varying the optical characteristics of the disc. This digital information can be any type of data, such as, but not limed to, audio, image, photo and/or video information. In other words, the digital data stored on a compact disc can vary from disc to disc. Different types of compact discs can be provided, a traditional type of compact disc is manufactured using a plastic mold operation. Each compact disc manufactured using the same mold contains the same digital information. As such, large production runs of compact discs, which contain the same information, such as a musical composition, are manufactured in an economical manner by using a molding process.
A different type of compact disc, which is commercially available, is a recordable compact disc. This type of disc is manufactured such that it does not contain data thereon, but can be programmed after it is manufactured. The optical characteristics, therefore, of the compact disc are modified after it is fabricated depending upon the data that is stored on the disc. In the context of the present invention, it is to be understood that reference to a compact disc (CD) includes and encompasses Compact Disc Recordable xe2x80x9cCD-Rxe2x80x9d, Compact Disc Readable xe2x80x9cCD-RWxe2x80x9d, CD-ROM, CD-PROM, Digital Versatile Disc xe2x80x9cDVDxe2x80x9d, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, or any disc for data storage.
To identify the data stored on a compact disc, a label is often printed on one side of the compact disc. For large manufacturing runs of a common compact disc, a silkscreen process is often used to apply the label to the compact disc. For small production runs of compact discs, such as those using recordable compact discs a silkscreen operation may not be economical. A custom printing operation, therfore, can be employed to print a custom label on each compact disc. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,734,629 entitled xe2x80x9cCD Transporterxe2x80x9d issued Mar. 31, 1998 for a description of a compact disc transporter that can be used to move a compact disc between a data recorder and a printer.
One suitable thermal transfer printer is the Perfect Image CD Printer manufactured by Rimage Corporation, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. An important advantage that thermal transfer printers enjoy over inkjet printers to labeling CD""s is that they do not require specially coated CD-ROMs to accept the ink from the printing process. Though most media manufacturers offer printable discs, they are more expensive than traditional media and may not be as readily available. Further details regarding such thermal transfer printers which may be used in the system according to the present invention may be found in an article in CD-ROM Professional, September 1996, at pages 86-90. U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,768 xe2x80x9cApparatus for printing on plastic diskxe2x80x9d issued Aug. 6, 1996 describes a printer for printing indicia to a compact disc. Also see, U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,688 issued Aug. 25, 1998 xe2x80x9cThermal dye transfer printing of compact disc labels including a circular recessed carrierxe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,069 xe2x80x9cApr. 13, 1999 Transferring colorant from a donor element to a compact discxe2x80x9d. U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,722 issued Nov. 21, 2000 xe2x80x9cCompact disc and recordable compact disc thermal transfer printerxe2x80x9d described another type of printer for use with compact discs.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for the compact disc handling apparatus which more efficiently process compact discs and improves image quality of printed indicia.
The above-mentioned problems with compact disc transporters and other problems are addressed by the present invention and will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.
In one embodiment, a compact disc processing system comprises a data recorder to record content to a compact disc, a transporter to transport the compact disc, and a re-transfer printer to print an image to an internal intermediate transfer sheet and transfer the image from the transfer sheet to the compact disc.
In another embodiment, a content on demand processing system comprises a processor, a data recorder to record content to a compact disc, wherein the content is provided by the processor, a transporter to transport the compact disc, and a re-transfer printer to print an image to an internal intermediate transfer sheet and transfer the image from the transfer sheet to the compact disc, wherein image data is provided by the processor.
A method of processing a compact disc (CD) comprises transferring each ink of a multicolor ink film onto an intermediate transfer sheet by a line thermal head to form a primary transfer image, printing a positioning mark which serves as a position reference on the intermediate transfer sheet, forming a primary transfer image of plural colors on the intermediate transfer sheet in a superimposed relation with the transferred positioning mark as a reference, and retransferring the primary transfer image onto a CD, thereby forming a desired image on the CD.
Another method of processing a compact disc (CD) comprises loading content data that is to be recorded to the CD, loading image data to produce an image on the CD, transporting the CD to a recorder, recording the content data on the CD, transporting the CD to a printer, and prior to completing the transport of the CD to the printer, printing the image to an intermediate transfer sheet of the printer.
Yet another method of processing a compact disc (CD) comprises loading content data that is to be recorded to multiple CD""s, loading multiple image data to produce images on the CD""s, recording the content data on the CD""s, and sequentially printing the images to an intermediate transfer sheet of the printer.